Our Services

Dermatology

Our consultant-led integrated skin service offers specialist assessment and treatment for a wide range of skin conditions, including minor skin surgery.

We’re dedicated not only to effective treatment but also to promoting long-term skin health and raising awareness about preventing skin diseases—especially skin cancer.

Our multidisciplinary team includes consultants, nurse consultants, specialty doctors, specialist nurses, and skin cancer nurses, all working together to provide comprehensive care

In Summer 2025, we’ll be launching a dedicated biologics service, offering advanced specialist treatments for Bolton patients.

We also provide a cutting-edge tele-dermatology service in partnership with Skin Analytics—an AI-powered platform that helps enable earlier diagnosis or discharge from the suspected skin cancer pathway.

We are working in partnership with Skin Analytics to provide a skin cancer assessment service with the aim for patients to receive an outcome of their suspected skin cancer referral sooner than on the standard pathway.

Teledermatology involves a qualified professional clinical photographer taking a series of digital photographs of a patient’s skin lesion. The photographs are then sent to a dermatologist for remote assessment to see if the patient needs to come into hospital for further treatment.

The clinic is run in partnership with Skin Analytics, an external company who will support the assessment of your skin lesion using an artificial intelligence computer programme called DERM. DERM has been developed by Skin Analytics to recognise skin cancer and common harmless skin conditions using photographic images.

DERM is a medical device that uses artificial intelligence to identify skin cancer and will analyse a dermoscopic image of a skin lesion. Dermoscopic images are images taken with a dermatoscope, which magnifies the skin lesion and allows its inspection without skin surface light reflections.

Patients may be referred for an appointment via their GP or another route. Only lesion(s) that have been specified by a GP in the referral will be photographed during an appointment.

If you are concerned about any lesions or skin problems, please seek advice from your GP in the first instance.

At the Teledermatology clinic located in our J-block Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC), a qualified clinical photographer will take a series of digital photographs of your skin lesion.

The photographs will be sent to a dermatologist for remote assessment to see if you need further treatment.

You will not have a face-to-face consultation with a doctor at this appointment. You will be asked a series of questions detailing your medical history and specific details of the lesion itself.

Please note you may be asked to remove jewellery or make up where necessary. Depending on the location of your lesion, you may also be asked to remove articles of clothing to gain a better view of the area of interest. If you are required to remove clothing to show a sensitive area of your body, you may request a chaperone. This whole process will take approximately 25 minutes.

The photographer may use two different devices: a camera phone which uses artificial intelligence to analyse the lesion to see if you need to see a dermatologist, and a professional digital camera.

They will photograph a:

  • general view of the area of interest to establish the location of your lesion
  • detailed close up using a specialised lens called a Dermatoscope

The Dermatoscope allows the photographer to capture highly detailed images of your lesion, by pressing gently against the surface of the skin. This should not hurt. It may not be possible to photograph some lesions using the Dermatoscope. This will be explained to you at your appointment.

Images taken on the camera phone will be encrypted and electronically transferred, by secure means, so they can be analysed by DERM. The software will then provide a decision on whether or not the lesion needs to be seen by a consultant dermatologist at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust (BFT).

Once photography is complete, your images will be securely saved and uploaded to your Electronic Patient Record, which will allow the Dermatology team to assess the report and review your clinical photographs.

Patients will be contacted after their appointment, usually within 7 working days, to advise if they need to come into hospital for further treatment. You may receive a phone call from a private number to advise you of the next steps, this is following the Bolton consultant who has analysed the image and has decided you need to be seen face to face, have a minor surgery performed to test or remove the lesion, or you require an onward referral to another service.

If we cannot contact you by phone, a letter will be send to you within 14 days to advise of next steps or that you have been discharged from the service.

If any of the following apply to you, please contact the relevant team to rebook your appointment at a face-to-face clinic:

  • Patient over 75 years or over
  • Lesions on the genital area
  • Skin conditions where the concern is not of skin cancer (e.g. rashes, eczema, infectious diseases, lupus, subcutaneous lump)
  • Lesion too large for dermoscope (exceeds 1cm)
  • Past melanoma or Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) – (this does NOT include BCC)
  • Previous biopsy
  • Open or ulcerated
  • Solid organ transplant
  • Close family history of Malignant Melanoma (MM) or SCC
  • Wet lesions
  • Lesions with dressings
  • Eye area
  • Immunosuppression
  • Hair, tattoos, scars
  • Nails, mucosal surfaces or on soles of feet or palms of hands
  • Monitoring treatment – including follow up tele-dermatology review
  • Hospital Transport
  • Assisted Mobility/Additional Medical Needs/Medical Equipment

On the day of the clinic, the clinical photographer will identify any lesion which should be excluded from DERM analysis. This will not affect your treatment as your lesion will still be assessed by a Dermatologist.

If you are unable to make your appointment or would like to cancel, please contact Access, Booking and Choice: 01204 390400

Do I need to give permission for photographs to be taken?

The clinical photographer will discuss consent with you in detail to ensure you are comfortable with the photographs being taken and how your clinical images will be used. If you are happy to proceed, you will be required to provide:

  • verbal consent for clinical photographs to be used as part of your treatment
  • verbal confirmation of your consent for the Skin Analytics website

We will not take any photographs without your permission.

You may be able to withdraw your consent by contacting the Clinical Photography department, however images which have been used for clinical decisions, diagnosis or treatment cannot be removed from your healthcare record. Consent can be withdrawn when given for additional purposes outside of clinical treatment, however photographs that have previously been authorised for publication may not be able to be withdrawn if they are already in the public domain.

Retracting consent will not affect your treatment or any future treatment you may receive.

How is my data used by Skin Analytics?

To process your assessment, Skin Analytics securely store your medical history data and images, together with standard identification information necessary for the safe and accurate filing of the assessment report (i.e. your name, date of birth and NHS number).

The assessment report will be available for us to use appropriately in support of any further care you may need.

The results of the assessment will be sent to your GP practice to be included in your medical records.

The assessment may be reviewed for quality assurance purposes by Skin Analytics or other authorised bodies. This data may include information collected during the assessment and any subsequent diagnoses relating to the lesions assessed.

Skin Analytics ask for your consent to use your data for research purposes to improve their service. Where data relating to your assessment is used for research purposes, it will be anonymised.

More information on the Skin Analytics privacy policy can be found on their website.

(link to Skin Analytics Privacy Policy Privacy Policy – Skin Analytics)

How will I find out the result of this photographic procedure?

You should receive a letter in the post within two to three weeks of your visit or a telephone call asking you to attend a face-to-face consultation.

If you have not heard from the team, or are concerned about changes in your lesion, please contact them.

Does an urgent follow up appointment or surgery mean I have cancer?

No. You could be asked to come back urgently for a number of reasons. Urgent appointments will generally be seen within a few weeks, so there should not be a long wait.

When should you worry about a mole?

It is important to check your skin regularly for any change. You may want to ask a family member or a friend to examine your back.

Following the ABCDE – easy rules can help you identify potentially worrying features:

  • Asymmetry – the two halves of the lesion may differ in shape
  • Border – edges of the lesion may be irregular, blurred or notched
  • Colour – the colour may be uneven
  • Diameter – report any mole larger than 6mm or a change in size or shape
  • Evolution – changes in size, shape, colour or elevation or any new symptom such as bleeding, itching or crusting

It can be helpful to take images of your lesion to see if the lesion is changing over time as it can be more reliable than using memory alone. It can be useful to do this every few months using a phone with a camera.

If you notice any of the changes described above or are concerned about a mole or patch of skin for any other reason then contact your GP as soon as possible.

How can you reduce your risk of skin cancer?

It is recognised that unprotected exposure to UV radiation can increase your risk of skin cancer. It is therefore important to be careful in the sun.

The British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) have compiled the following ‘Top Sun Safety Tips’:

  • Protect your skin with adequate clothing, wear a hat that protects your face, neck and ears, and a pair of UV protective sunglasses
  • Choose sun protective clothing (with permanently sun-protective fabric, widely available for adults and children) if you have fair skin or many moles
  • Spend time in the shade between 11:00 – 15:00 when it’s sunny
  • Step out of the sun before your skin has a chance to redden or burn
  • When choosing a sunscreen look for a high protection SPF (current recommendations are SPR 50 or 50+) to protect against UVB, and the UVA circle logo and/or 4 or 5 UVA stars to protect against UVA
  • Apply plenty of sunscreen 15 – 30 minutes before going out in the sun, and reapply every two hours and straight after swimming and towel-drying
  • Keep babies and young children out of direct sunlight
  • Sunscreens are not an alternative to clothing and shade, rather they offer additional protection (no sunscreen will provide 100% protection)
  • Do not use sunbeds

Service locations

Royal Bolton Hospital

Key contact numbers

Dermatology

Tel: 01204 390348

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